Improvement in electro-automatic signal-boxes



Y trolled by escapement.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIGE CHARLES T. CHESTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT iN ELECTRO-AUTOMATIC SIGNAL-Boxes.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent N0. 71,701, dated December 3,1867.

Beit known that I, CHARLEs T. CHESTER,

of the city, count-y, and State of New York,

have invented certain Improvements in Electro-Automatic Signal-Boxes;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exactdescription of the same.

Electro-automatic signal-boxes are used. for transmitting signals byelectricity with regularity and certainty-the mechanism used to effectthis being called into actionthat is,

- Wound up and startedby the agency of any its work certainly andaccurately.

My invention relates particularly to these two features of the completemachine.

Referring now to the drawings which accompany this specification, ofwhich Figure l represents a perspective view of a box containing themechanism and the hinged cover of the box, upon which is fastened theactuator of the mechanism; and Fig. 2, a section of this actuator,showing its appearance outside and inside of the box-cover; and theletters describing the different parts being the same in the differentfigures-- A represents a box, of iron or wood, with its hinged door B.It contains a train of wheels driven by weight or spring, and. con- Onewheel of the train C is used as a circuit-wheel in any couvenient way.This wheel runs outside of the clock-frame, and has projecting from it astopping-pin, D. The train is wound up, not by a key, but by a lever, E,screwed to the main shaft. The actuator F G is a flat bar, tted to slideup and down on the inner part of the door B. The actuator F G has,outside of the door,'a pulling-handle, H, and inside of the door aprojectingpin, P. The relation of the lever E and .the pin P is suchthat when the door is closed the pin is ready, when H is pulled, toengage with E, and move it so as to wind up the wheel-train.

When the pull is made, and H is released, the actuator, with its pin P,is made to get out of the way by a spring or by its own weight,according as the pull may be upward or downward. The handle H must, ofcourse, pass through a slot in the cover B; but as the actuator-bar ismade iiat and la-rge it is evident that the slot is at all timescovered, so that no instrument can be thrust into the box from without,nor can dust penetrate.

If the actuator-pin 0r equivalent were in permanent contact with thelever E it would be possible for a careless person to break theapparatus or falsify the signal by pulling in the wrong direction. A

The actuator here described has but amovement in one direction, and whenreleased it places itself again in the right position.

K L M are screw-holes in the actuator-bar,

into either of which is screwed a pin, which, striking upon the supportor guide, regulates the length of pull, and, in consequence, the numberof signals given. A second lever, O, is attached to the winding-shaft.Its end I is arranged to engage with the projecting pin of thecircuit-wheel "D, and the relation of these two is such that the leverend is brought up so as to present itself during the nal revolution ofthe circuit-Wheel, so as to be in the path of the pin D, and thus stopthe train al ways at the same position of the circuit-wheel. This end ofthe lever O may be adjustable, as it is desirable to have the relationbetween this part of the lever and the circuit-Wheel pin very exact, andto compensate for wear or backlash in the apparatus.

To recapitulate the successive actions of my improvements: We supposethe cover B to be closed and locked. It is desired to send four electricsignals corresponding with the circuitwheel of the inclosed train, whichmay be the numerical signal 28. Any one coming to the handle H andgiving it a pull, and then liberating it, will have caused the pin P tostrike the lever E and pull it a longer or shorter distance, accordingto the regulation, by means of the screw-holes K L M, of the play of theactuator F Gr. The lever E Winds up the train, and at the same momentthe lever O moves and liberates the circuit-wheel, so that when the pinP ies away from the lever E the train moves on at the desired speed, thecircuiti Wheel moves four revolutions; during the fourth revolution theadjustable end I of the lever O places itself so that the pin D strikesit and stops the train exactly on the completion of the fourth signal.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l.` The combination of a train of Wheels controlled by escapement anddriving an electric circuit Wheel with a sliding actuator which isengaged with the Winding-lever of the train, or is disengaged from it atpleasure, substantially as described.

2. The combination of this sliding actuator CHARLES T. CHESTER.

Witnesses:

STEPHEN CHESTER, VAN ZANDT DAWEs.

